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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Any Israeli attempt to destroy Iran's nuclear programme poses huge technical challenges for Israeli military planners. BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Marcus looks at some of the options open to Israel and asks whether it has the capacity to carry out such a mission.

Possible attack routes

Route 1: Northern route where Israeli jets would fly north and then east along the Turkish border with Syria and Iraq

Route 2: Central, more likely route, would take Israeli warplanes over Jordan and Iraq

Route 3: Southern route would take Israeli jets over Saudi air space. Possible route for return leg of their journey

Getting there

Aircraft

Details

Task

Fighter bombers

F-15I

F-15I Ra'am or Thunder

Israel's variant of the US-made F-15

Twin-seat attack aircraft

Armed with cannon for self-defence and air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles

Could be used to carry the guided bunker busters

F-16I Sufa or Storm

Multi-role fighter

Armaments include air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, targeting and navigation systems

The Israeli Air Force has 125 advanced F15I and F16I warplanes that could be used in any long-range strike against Iran

Experts say the F-15I would be the only option for carrying the GBU-28 laser-guided missiles, with "bunker busting" warheads - but each plane could only carry one bomb

Air support would also be available from the modern F-16I fighters, which cannot carry the GBU-28s

Mid-flight refuelling

Boeing 707 Re'em or Oryx

Israel is believed to have between eight and 10 large tanker aircraft based on the Boeing 707

Refuelling would be critical to the Israeli operation

Many of the potential targets in Iran are between 1,500km (930 miles) and 1,800km (1,120 miles) from Israeli bases, putting them out of range of the fighters, whose combat radius is about 1200-1600km

The strike aircraft would need to refuel to make it there and back - possibly after take-off over the Mediterranean

Unmanned drones

Eitan or Heron

Israel's unmanned aerial vehicles, more commonly known as drones

High altitude, long endurance aircraft used for surveillance and scouting

Operations include gathering intelligence information, marking specific points for other aircraft to attack

The unmanned drones could be used to assess the damage done by strikes or help in other ways during the operation

Experts say they could have a cyber role to trick air defences by targeting radars or generating a "false picture of what is happening" for the enemy on the ground

Israel's 'Bunker Buster'

GBU-28

US-supplied 5,000lb laser-guided weapon with penetrating warhead

Carried by strike aircraft

Used to target deeply-buried facilities

Tests have shown it can penetrate 6m (20ft) of concrete

A number of the potential targets are underground.

The GBU-28, or "Bunker Buster", has been used in Serbia, in Afghanistan and Iraq

How it works:

The bombs are carried by Israeli F-15I aircraft - but only one per aircraft, which would mean a large attack force for multiple attempts on numerous targets

Bomb is released almost vertically over the target, and guided by lasers

The bombs can penetrate up to 6m of concrete or about 30.5m (100ft) of earth before detonating the 4,400lb warhead